


Plot bunny: imperfections

by Bacner



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: AU, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Post-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-14 01:16:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5724022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bacner/pseuds/Bacner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In S.H.I.E.L.D., agents are expected to be in perfect shape, physical and mental, more or less. But this isn't always easy or straightforward...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. chapter 1

"Ugh!" Jemma Simmons groaned, as she just flopped down onto the floor in a purposefully graceless heap. "Grant Douglas Ward, do you think that I'm fat?" 

Grant blinked and shifted into a more sitting position. Ever since the whole pod incident (yes, it was supposed to float, but that wasn't the point) this was probably the first time ever since Jemma tried to have anything that resembled a conversation with him, civil or otherwise. The topic that she had chosen wasn't exactly easy to navigate for him either. "Why are you asking?" he countered instead. "Have you been hanging around agent May? This woman makes anyone look fat, even the director Coulson. 

"Yes, sort of, but this isn't the point," Jemma refused to be distracted. "Or maybe it is. Somehow agent May makes skinny look sleek - and the same goes for Skye now that she is training with her rather than with you." She gave Grant a look, but the ex (or not so ex?) Hydra agent's returned gaze was pointedly blank. 

"I still don't see what the problem is," Grant clearly refused to be baited. "When it came to weight gain, the old S.H.I.E.L.D. approached it the same way it did - you use it or lose it." 

"Excuse me?" Jemma blinked incredulously. "It's extra weight. How do you use it?" 

"When you're a field agent and you're gaining weight, because the traditional S.H.I.E.L.D. diet regiment isn't for everyone, you either exercise to lose it, or exercise to convert it to muscle mass instead," Grant shrugged. "Yes, the Academy also had dietologists - or whatever such doctors are called - for the future field agents to ensure that they didn't get an unhealthy diet or what have you, but you still had to make your own choice." He paused. "Mind you, no one in the field agent cadets actually wanted to be fat, and did their best to make themselves fighting trim. But the mentors, the teachers, the supervising officers, they kept an eye on us and saw what sort of body plan we had, and ensured that we fit the right mold, you know? It's one thing to get overweight 'cause you're lazy, it another if you're genuinely big-boned and are genetically inclined to have a lot of meat on your bones. S.H.I.E.L.D. sought to keep you happy, but it also sought to keep you useful to the agency, so it was quite straightforward in determining what you ate, how you exercised, and all that." He paused and added, carefully. "And of course, there was the whole 3.63%, you know?" 

"Yeah, but you couldn't take that option," Jemma replied carefully instead. "Not if you wanted to be useful to Garrett." 

"Yes, and I liked the new life I got in S.H.I.E.L.D., so I didn't make a fuss about my life, exercise, diet, routine and so on," Grant shrugged. "Didn't exactly win me any favors among my fellow cadets, but frankly, after the military school that my family had sent me to the last time around? It wasn't so bad, and I never really cared about anyone other than Garrett for a long while, so back then I didn't really care. You?" 

"Me?" 

"Yes. Why is it bothering you? You're going to be a lab worker at least part time even now-" 

"That's not it," Jemma grimaced. "As a cadet, I used to be quite, um, heavy, and while I wasn't exactly teased about it - sci-and-tech was different from the field in this regard - Leo did want to get into the field back then, so the general feeling was that I either start exercising, maybe make some sort of a weight loss, cough, potion as my graduating project, or split up with Leo, 'cause he was going to get into the field, this was part of his dream. " 

"But not yours?" 

"I am happier in the lab," Jemma confessed. "But, this is no longer a viable option, is it? Not entirely, I mean..." 

"Well, how did you lose weight the first time around? As your graduating project?" 

"Oh no, I lost weight though one of my inventions and delivered another one as my graduating project!" Jemma replied proudly, before toning it down quite a bit. "Of course, this resulting in me leaving behind quite a few people when I did go into the field with Leo - upon the Bus. Many of them assumed, or at least felt, that I would be happier in the labs after what they've seen - and they were probably right. But at that time I really didn't want to be split up with Leo - now I am no longer as sure about this..." she shook her head. "But this doesn't matter anymore - I cannot whip up any weight loss formula right now, not right away, which means that I will have to talk to May - and maybe Skye - about exercise." 

"Before you go there check out this part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intranet," Grant suggested wryly. "It's dedicated precisely to what I've been talking to you about - the whole body shape/weight gain calculation ratio, diet suggestions, etc. It wasn't particularly important or prominent in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s overall plan of things, so I doubt that Hydra brought it down; and since Skye and others got the whole intranet back up and running, this site should be too..." 

"Oh! Thanks!" Jemma perked up somewhat, back to her regular self - somewhat. "I don't want to appeal to May barehanded..." 

"Good luck with that," Grant said with not-quite-a-smile on his face and Jemma took her leave, more civilly than either of them would expect. "I wonder what will come out of that..." he mused to the once more empty room...


	2. Chapter 1.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even in a world where he didn't go out of the plane, Leo Fitz has issues. Luckily, Raina is there to help, right?

"...Raina, please don't thank me," Leo finally gathered enough courage to admit the truth (in his perception, anyways), "I'm not here to help you - well, I am helping you and all, but I am also helping myself."

"Oh? And how are you helping yourself?" Raina asked, as she looked patiently and kindly at the height-challenged agent (cough).

"I cannot create."

"Excuse me?" Raina stared at Leo very attentively (normally he would flustered by this sort of thing, but right now he was quite flustered himself, to begin with). "How's that?" 

"I cannot create - not right now, not anymore," Leo explained, miserably. "During the Academy years, I had no problems with coming up with new inventions, and here and now-"

"You have problems," Raina finished more as a statement than a question.

"Yes," Leo nodded, uncomfortable for a host of completely new reasons. "The last time I had inspiration of any sort when we had to take down Garrett and now I don't have any...this isn't right."

"You sure that 'right' is the right word for you to use? Maybe 'fair' would be a better fit?"

Leo turned red. "You're like Jemma," he said simply. "I bet that you could come up with a - creation, or inspiration, out of thin air, just like her-"

"Sure can, most likely," Raina nodded with an attitude and spoke with an accent that had quite a hint of the American South. "See?" she pulled out a potted plant (she had a few of them lately, but not too much). "This is a completely new breed of cactus - you won't find it in nature. Can you top this?"

"Yes," Leo snaps as something in his brain jumps to attention: he hurries to his section of the lab and begins to quickly put something together. "Thank you, Raina - how can I repay you?"

"I don't know - maybe we can make some sort of a deal, a written arrangement?" the playfulness is gone from Raina's face as if via a wet cloth, the Afro-American woman is completely serious. "I would like to be your friend - I do not want to be cast aside in case Jemma Simmons wants you back. I would like to have your friendship, if nothing else. Can you manage that?"

Leo opened his mouth to say that his feelings for Jemma were beyond mere friendship (he hoped, especially after the entire mess with Garrett), when his mouth caught up with his brain and realized that Raina was asking for this, basically - 'mere friendship' that Jemma was clearly reluctant to give to him, now that she was busy playing field agent with Grant and Bobbi and especially Antoine Tripplet. 

"I see where you were going with this," he told Raina, "but aren't you and Ward?.."

"We're on the outs - he is still under house arrest and still peeved with me for telling him that he and Skye can be monsters together," Raina admitted with a wince. "In hindsight I should've thought this better - Grant is harder to wind-up than how he looks, and when he snaps the results can be unpredictable."

"Why do you wind people up?" Leo couldn't help but to ask.

"I don't know - because I didn't have someone like you and Jemma do, or did, in the past?" Raina shrugged. "Maybe it's the road I picked for myself. I don't know. Grant is right - his relationship with Garrett was sick, but still better as compared to what I had with Cal."

Silence fell.

"Right," Leo Fitz said firmly, as he equally firmly sat down next to the tall woman in question (i.e. Raina). "Maybe you're manipulating me, but it works. Raina Underwood, do you want to be friends?"

End.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a series that will be updated irregularly, I'm afraid.


End file.
